Falaise Gap

The Falaise Gap (25 July-21 August 1944) was the decisive engagement of the Battle of Normandy of World War II, which resulted in the encirclement of Army Group B of Nazi Germany by American forces from the south and British, Canadian, and Polish forces to the north. After nearly a month of combat, the German forces were destroyed and the Allies liberated Paris on 25 August 1944, ending the struggle for France.

Background
On 6 June 1944, 156,000 British, American, Canadian, Australian, Belgian, Czech, Danish, Free French, Greek, Dutch, New Zealander, Norwegian, and Polish troops landed on Gold, Juno, Sword, Utah, and Omaha beaches in Normandy in German-occupied France in the first major Allied offensive operation in France since the failed Dieppe Raid of 1942. The Allies under the command of American general Dwight D. Eisenhower were able to secure beach heads after fierce fighting with the Wehrmacht forces, but the heroism of D-Day would have been for nothing if the Allies could not break out of Normandy.

While the British and Commonwealth forces fought with the Germans at Caen, the major American offensive was launched at St. Lo. Under the command of General Omar Bradley, Operation Cobra was designed to push the Germans out of St. Lo and move on Paris, encircling Gunther von Kluge's Army Group B in the process.

St. Lo
General Bradley launched an offensive against the Germans with 8 infantry divisions and 2,451 tanks at St. Lo, facing 8 German divisions under the command of Gunther von Kluge. The German forces were forced back in close-quarters combat, although the Americans suffered heavy losses to German machine-guns and to friendly fire from bomber aircraft. The Americans held the town against a German counterattack on 25 July, and the liberation of St. Lo opened up the road to Paris. Operation Cobra's success cost the Americans 1,800 men, but they were able to move on into Normandy.

Formation of the Falaise Gap
Bradley's forces secured St. Lo while the British, Canadian, and Polish forces fought with the Germans over Caen and Villiers Bocage. With the Americans advancing on Paris from the southeast and the British, Canadians, and Polish advancing from the northeast, the German-occupied territory in the middle became known as the "Falaise Gap". Up to 350,000 German troops of Army Group B were trapped in a corridor that was centered at the town of Falaise on the Caen-Falaise Road, a major supply trail for the Germans. The Axis forces held on tenaciously, and the Falaise Gap became the scene for some of the fiercest fighting of the last Great War.

Seves Island to Mayenne
The Americans suffered such heavy losses at the Battle of St. Lo that they had to fold the US 128th Infantry Division into the US 90th Infantry Division to replace their losses in combat. General Eugene M. Landrum sent the 358th Infantry Regiment to secure Saint-Germain-sur-Seves (Seves Island) from the German 2nd Panzer Regiment and the Das Reich Division under Eugen Meindl. The German forces on the island defended Seves with hedgerows and took up positions in trenches and manor houses, and 700 US troops were killed, wounded, or captured in the battle. However, the 90th succeeded in capturing the Flak 88s used by the Germans to hold back the American armor, and US tanks were able to advance down the roads.

On 29 July 1944, US general George S. Patton developed a clever plan to continue his armored movements towards Falaise, as German forces placed anti-tank bombs on the bridges over the Mayenne River. If the bridges were blown up, the Allies would be delayed in their crossing of the river, and more German troops could arrive towards the relief of the gap. Patton decided to use his supply convoy as a decoy on the opposite side of the Mayenne River while the 90th Infantry and a team of combat engineers would be sent to defuse the bombs from the German side. The Americans captured a medieval castle and its courtyards from the German forces and crossed the Mayenne River under mortar fire, and they were able to defuse the bombs. American tanks crossed the Mayenne Bridge, and proceeded to force the Germans back.

Operation Totalize
As the Americans succeeded in pushing the Germans back with their armor, the British, Canadians, and Poles continued their advance from the northeast. The Canadian 4th Armored Division and their Argyll and Sutherland Highlanders were dispatched to capture Tilly-la-Champagne on 7 August as the first step of Operation Totalize, their plan to force the Germans back towards Falaise and to capture the Falaise Road. They succeeded in storming German Flak 88 positions on a ridge in a night assault and they destroyed a German armored contingent in the city itself, having captured the German industrial factory used as a command post. Canadian tanks advanced down the Falaise Road and the Polish 1st Armored Division guarded their west flank as they moved towards Falaise.

Saint-Aigan-de-Cramesnil
The Polish 1st Armored Division eventually came into an encounter with the German forces under panzer ace Michael Wittmann at St. Aigan-de-Cramesnil, a town that was used as a base for Waffen-SS soldiers and German tanks. The Germans had advantage in armor and supplies, so it was up to the British to cut the German supply lines. The British SAS raided the German fuel depot at Autun and destroyed three oil containers, forcing the German tanks to conserve fuel. On 8 August 1944, the Polish tanks and British and Canadian air support moved in for the kill. In a decisive tank battle, the Polish tanks destroyed several retreating German vehicles and mowed down most of their infantry, and Wittmann and many other tanks were destroyed. The result of the battle was the loss of much of the German armor in the Falaise Gap, and the Polish and Canadians continued their advance.

American and Canadian Advances
On 9 August, as the Allied advances continued, the Free French forces' French 2nd Armored Division of Philippe Leclerc secured the Foret d'Ecouves, 11 miles north of the German supply base of Alencon. However, the French did a poor job of clearing the forest, which was still lousy with mines and barricades. On 11 August, the 90th Infantry Division was dispatched to clear out the forest after the US engineers sent in to destroy German positions went missing. During the fighting, the 90th found out that the engineers were taken out at a German supply depot in the forest, so the Americans destroyed the depot and used captured mortars to destroy German roadblocks. The forest was cleared out soon after, and the Americans advanced again.

However, the American convoys were held back by German Nebelwerfer artillery fire from outposts on the Laison River, near the town of Falaise. The Canadian 4th Armored Division secured the German artillery sites and manor houses on 14 August in close-quarters combat in houses and trenches, themselves suffering heavy losses from German artillery fire. With the German artillery stopped, the Americans and Canadians advanced and the Polish captured Mount Ormel (Hill 262, also called "the Mace") and Vimoutiers.

The Crossroads
On 17 August 1944, the German commander Gunther von Kluge was dismissed by Adolf Hitler because of his reluctance to follow his orders. Walther Model was appointed as the new commander of German forces in the Falaise Gap, as he was known for his defensive skills. The American 90th Infantry Division was sent to capture the crossroads of Le Bourg-Saint-Leonard in the Orne Department to continue their advance on Falaise as a part of the next phase of the Allied plan. Although many Americans were killed by friendly fire from their own planes, they were able to capture the town and hold it against a fierce German counterattack. At the end of the battle, the Americans were given orders to capture the town of Chambois in the center of the gap as the Poles took Vimoutiers and the Canadians advanced along the Laison River. There, they would stop the Germans from escaping the gap, and face a final battle.

Hill 262
Although the Poles secured Hill 262 from the Germans, their 1,500 troops and 80 tanks under Stanislaw Maczek had to hold the hill against remnants of 20 German infantry and panzer divisions under the command of Model. The Canadian Grenadier Guards were to be sent as reinforcements after the Poles held off German attacks, but at the same time, several Canadian tankers were captured at St. Lambert-sur-Dives by the Germans. The Argyll and Sutherland Highlanders headed to capture the town and free the tankers, and they seized back their captives after fighting a fierce close-quarters battle. Sergeant Jonathan Callard was awarded the Victoria Cross for sacrificing his life to stop a defective bomb from killing two of his comrades during the combat.

With the Canadians freed up, they were ready to help the Polish army at Hill 262. However, the Germans began their attack that day and the Canadians were nowhere in sight. German tanks overwhelmed the small amounts of Polish tanks at the ridge of the mountain and the Poles were forced to retreat up the mountain as more German forces arrived. The Poles ran low on ammunition as they fell back, suffering heavy losses. They received early help from lone Canadian radio officer Leslie Barron, who arrived to help the Polish spot Axis tank targets. The Germans lost many vehicles to the Allied air support, but Barron was killed later in the battle and the radio was destroyed by German bullets while it was wielded by Private Marek Ulan. The Poles were forced to retreat to the top of the hill, but as the Germans launched their final attack, green flares were shot, signaling the arrival of Canadian reinforcements. The Canadians assisted the Poles in repelling Model's attack, and the Allied forces met up. With Hill 262 successfully defended and the German attack repulsed, the Germans were forced to fall back to the only way out, Chambois, held by American forces. The Canadian and Polish troops proceeded to assist the Americans at Chambois, where the final battle would take place.

Chambois
On the same day, 20 August 1944, the Germans made their final push out of the pocket. General Paul Hausser and the remnants of the German 7th Army (all of their surviving infantry and tanks) launched a desperate attack on American positions. The Americans held the Germans back at sandbag positions at the edge of town, but German armored support forced the Americans to retreat further into town. They fought a slow retreat to the center, with the Germans suffering heavy losses while taking sandbag after sandbag. Eventually, the Allies called in their air support to eradicate German positions. US snipers killed the mortar crews that assaulted the edge of the town and Allied planes, PAK artillery, and Bazookas were able to destroy the German armor. The result of the extermination of the German panzers and the massacre of advancing German forces was the surrender of the last survivors of the 7th Army. General Hausser stayed with his men until he was shot in the jaw, and he was one of the few Germans to escape. Chambois was the end of the campaign, resulting in a decisive Allied victory.

Aftermath
50,000 Germans were captured and 15,000 killed in the Falaise Gap campaign, and the 7th Army and Army Group B were almost wiped out. Just five days after Chambois, American forces liberated Paris, the capital of France, from German control - they had broken out of Normandy and crushed the German forces in the north of the country. By the start of September, they had liberated almost all of northern and southern France and pushed the Germans in the north back to Belgium, the ones in the east back to Alsace-Lorraine, and the ones in the south to Italy.